152 THE mUFFIELD 



ped with yellow silk; the wing, of the pale 

 grey feather of a mallard, very little longer 

 than the body. 



An entire new method of making it. 

 Take a small even silk-worm gut, and half a 

 yard of fine yellow silk well waxed, with 

 hook No. 7 or 8, and proceed thus : take 

 the hook between the finger and thumb of 

 your left hand, take your silk and make two 

 laps round the hook, within the tenth of an 

 inch of the bend, wax the end of the gut 

 and lay it on the inside of the shank ; if you 

 mean to fork it, take two fibres of the cop- 

 per-coloured feather of the mallard, and lay 

 them on the back of the hook, leaving them 

 a proper length ; then begin to lap the gut to 

 the hook all the way up till you come within 

 Ihe tenth of an inch of the end of the shank; 

 wax your silk, and having the feather for the 

 wings ready, taking care tiie points are even, 

 lay them on the back of the hook, keeping 

 them close together and even with the right 

 sjde next the hook, and the but-ends down- 



